Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

December 6 question - As you look back on 2017, with all its successes/failures, if you could backtrack, what would you do differently?

Tough one. I'm one who prefers to look forward rather than backward. It was a very difficult year with several medical issues & dementia taking up huge amounts of our time and energy.

Writing-wise, I would wish that I'd been able to squeeze out more time for a rewrite that I put on hold at the end of the summer. My heart was full and I wasn't able to dig in with the energy & joy required. I haven't given up on the story, and with the input of an amazing crit buddy, I'm looking forward to that rewrite in the new year (after I finish up my NaNo project).

How about you? What writing projects are you looking forward to in the new year? Any rewind wishes?

Monday, November 20, 2017

I was born with stories in my head, of that I’m certain. From a very young age, earlier than school, I read and wrote and drew. Cartoons, little stories, snippets of ideas. Often about horses and beaches.

Nobody nurtured me, not until grade four when my teacher saw what other people overlooked. He took pity on me and showed kindness in what was otherwise, by then, a difficult and confusing childhood.

Dad soon departed with my big sister, leaving me with a prescription drug dependent mother and two younger, disabled brothers. At fourteen, my mother changed my age on my birth certificate and sent me out to work. It was just after a teacher had met with her to discuss a writing scholarship. No more education for me.

I kept writing, late at night on an old typewriter. It was my happy place and driven by something I still don’t understand. I even wrote a novel and sent it to Mills & Boon. Somewhere, I have their very sweet rejection letter.

A sense of obligation kept me supporting the family until at the age of twenty I moved to New Zealand. Such freedom! My new life was filled with performing arts as I wrote and performed songs, did theatre and some TV, and discovered screenplays.

Six years later, home beckoned and after a few false starts, I found my husband to be and life changed again. Two wonderful sons, our mutual interest in showing dogs, a move to running our own business - all filled my life. Almost.

Writing still consumed me, one way or another. I wrote lots of expert pieces on dogs, a number of which were published around the world. I edited our own canine annual with distribution in fifteen countries. Doing the marketing for our business gave me plenty of copy writing opportunities.

Fiction kept nudging me and over more than a decade, I wrote bits and pieces of a book I’d named The Stationmaster’s Cottage. For a few years I played with scriptwriting again, writing five feature length scripts, one which was optioned for a while. Cottage was further developed in that format.

About two years ago I got serious. With my sons almost ready to find their own way in life, it hit me hard that I’d not pursued my one unwavering dream. Write a novel. Publish it. Part of my new resolve was fuelled from finding my big sister after some forty years apart. Although I never saw my father after he left, I have her back.

I wrote. Deleted. Started over. Fought every demon and one by one, sent them packing. It was cathartic to overcome the hurdles I’d made. Although fear filled me at times (and still does), I began to find the little girl inside again. I love horses and beaches. I am me, not the person my mother said I was. No education? No problem. That’s what a good editor is for.

With the draft ready to submit for publishing, I found the courage to phone an agent, someone I’d been referred to. One of her first questions was about my education. What qualifications did I have to be a writer? Achilles heel well and truly hit, I hid for a week. But I have a son who believes in reaching goals no matter what and he made sure I kept going, this time taking the indie route.

On Valentine’s Day this year, I published The Stationmaster’s Cottage. After a few hiccups finding my way around retailers, I went wide and have direct accounts with everyone except Nook. This morning, the book received its thirtieth review on Amazon. And this week, it got into the top one thousand books Amazon US.

Exactly nine months after its publication, its sequel, Jasmine Sea, has its release date. I’m definitely speeding up as a writer! My confidence occasionally slips, but there is a sense of fulfilment and excitement in my life like no other.

I started in the shadows. Sometimes those shadows creep toward me but now I use them to power ahead. We all have our hidden fears, our reasons not to shine, but they can be replaced, or at least harnessed, to bring energy and light into our lives and writing

***

Phillipa Nefri Clark grew up around lonely Australian beaches with wild seas and misty cliffs. From a young age she wrote stories and dreamed of being a writer. There were many detours along the way as she trod paths as diverse as a travelling sales rep to singing and acting. Fascinated by film, Phillipa wrote five feature length screenplays, one which was optioned. Now living in regional Victoria on a small acreage close to a mountain range, she markets the family business a few days a week and writes the rest of the time. With nonfiction credits for specialist canine publications, she finally returned to stories with the release of The Stationmaster’s Cottage, a dual timeline romance, in February 2017. Her great loves, apart from writing, are her family of two young adult sons and her husband, their Labrador, music, fine wine, and friends.

Starting over never felt better. Christie Ryan adores the little cottage she’s renovating, the seaside town that embraced her, and Martin Blake, the man she longs to marry. Ex-fiancé Derek Hobbs is finally out of the picture, and there are no more secrets in her life or mysteries to solve.

Will the arrival of a mysterious woman who commissions a portrait from Martin under a cloud of secrecy break her after all? Unrest and suspicion remind Christie that happiness can be fleeting, and when the peaceful town is shattered by crime, her past is again thrust into the limelight.

With one chance and only minutes to save those she loves, Christie comes face to face with her greatest fear—and there is no way around it.

Jasmine Sea follows on from The Stationmaster's Cottage, set shortly after its stunning conclusion.

Monday, November 13, 2017

Remakes – most of them suck. Now and then, one comes along that is as good as, if not better, than the original. And after all of the bad ones we’ve endured, we want to know about some good ones.

On November 13, 2017, blog about your favorite remake: movie (or television show into movie and vice versa), song, or book – or all three! Post a YouTube video and links where we can find these treasures. Tell us why THIS remake doesn’t suck!

***

Here we go!

In general, I am not a fan of remakes. If I've loved the original, I tend to not want to take the chance or trying the remake, because the new one so very rarely lives up to the standard. I can think of very few exceptions...

One of my all-time favourite Remakes is Battlestar Galactica! The remake was different in so many ways from the original - and it was SO GOOD!

For songs, the remake of Simon & Garfunkel's Sound of Silence by Disturbed is amazing. Beautiful, haunting, and oh so powerful.

How about you? Fans of BSG or Sound of Silence? Do you tend to love or hate remakes?

Monday, November 6, 2017

A couple of days ago (a few days into November), I realized something strange. I was working on my NaNo project and had accomplished my daily word count goal and had an extra thousand words padding the story. In all I had about 6500 words written.

For the first time in my life, I'd written an outline. This outline consisted of:
- character sheets for my main characters
- a story path for each of my MCs
- a path outline for the story (main outline)
- descriptions of 2 of the main settings in the novel

In all, I had over 6000 words written in preparation to write the story.

Altogether, that's 12 000 or 13 000 words.

As I was writing, I came to a part where my female MC takes off her helmet and tries to fix her hair. And that's when it hit me... I had NO IDEA what my MC looked like.

I didn't know hair colour, length or style. I didn't know her height or build.
I didn't know any of that about my male MC either.

I knew them as people but I wouldn't have recognized them on the street.
Of course, not recognizing people on the street is a special talent I have...

How about you? Are you a visual person? Do you know what your characters look like?

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

November 1 question - Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published?

I adore NaNo! I first stumbled on it just as I decided to try out this whole writing thing. Since then I've written several 1st drafts with NaNo - and finished them all. However, I haven't published (or even queried) them.

Why?

I'm still learning and I know they're not quite there. I believe they're close - but not close enough. Not yet. Maybe one day.

This year, I'm trying NaNo again - but this time with a twist. This time, I'm going in with an outline. I'm a pantser at heart so I have no idea if attempting an outline before I write will be a good thing or a bad thing. I'm worried having an outline is going to make me freeze, but there's only one way to find out!

I'm going to need all kinds of chocolate and support. Hope you're all up to the challenge of making sure I don't give up!!!

How about you? Are you a NaNo-er too? Any plotting tips to help me think this might actually work?

Monday, October 30, 2017

Writing a character with an accent is one of those situations where research and careful thought are required. If you overdo it, you risk your character coming off like a caricature but if you don’t identify their unique speech patterns clearly enough the fact that they have an accent will be lost along with some of their personality.

Using accents as a device is not new. It appears in many classic stories. Bram Stoker used it in Dracula as did Robert Louis Stevenson in Treasure Island. The poet Robert Burns was famous for it.

Irvine Welsh’s characters’ strong Glaswegian accents in Trainspotting add authenticity. "Ah'll huv tae stoap sayin' 'ken' sae much. These dudes might think ah'm a sortay pleb." (Welsh, 1993). Welsh not only spells the words out phonetically, he also laces his writing liberally with colloquialisms. This is a very effective device and gives his work a unique ‘voice’. However, unless you are able to handle this device with as much skill as Welsh, it is probably a good idea to avoid it.

In my first book, Peak Hill, one of my characters grew up in Texas so I listened to online recordings of native speakers until I felt I had the hang of the accent. However, my developmental editor explained that a ‘less is more’ approach is best with accents and I’ve stuck to that principle ever since. Her recommendation was to identify that a character has an accent as soon as they are introduced to allow the reader to ‘hear’ the voice in their mind. This can be easily achieved by having another character notice and/or comment on it. Once that element of the character has been established, all that is required is to sprinkle their dialogue with a few clues to their manner of speech.

In The Moral Compass, the hero, Jack, is Scottish. I identify this by having Florence, the heroine, notice it when he first speaks to her. Then he uses certain words such as ‘canna’ instead of ‘can’t’ and ‘didna’ instead of ‘didn’t’. The reader is always aware of his accent but doesn’t have to decipher what he is saying.

However, there is one place in the novel where I decided to follow Welsh’s example and spell out a minor character’s dialogue phonetically. I did this because the character not only had a strong accent; she also had a speech impediment. I wanted to give the reader a taste of the difficulty Florence was having understanding the woman as she placed an order for groceries. After rattling off her shopping list and seeing that Florence did not comprehend her, the character stated: “Hornastly, yeew’d thunk Oi wes sparking Chionoise ew soimtheng.” My editor felt (and I agreed) that in this situation phonetic treatment of the dialogue was appropriate and necessary.

What experiences/advice do you have for dealing with characters with accents in your writing?

***

An overwhelming urge to create led Kathy to pursue qualifications in both fashion design and applied design to fabric which were followed by a twenty year career in the fashion and applied arts industries and a crafting habit Martha Stewart would be proud of.

Kathy then discovered a love of teaching and began passing on the skills she'd accumulated over the years—design, pattern-making, sewing, Art Clay Silver, screen-printing and machine embroidery to name a few.

Creative writing started as a self-dare to see if she had the chops to write a manuscript. Kathy’s first novel, Peak Hill, which was developed from that manuscript, was a finalist in the Romance Writers of New Zealand Pacific Hearts Full Manuscript contest in 2016.

Her second novel, Throwing Light was published in February 2017 and her third novel, The Moral Compass is due out in late 2017.

Kathy now squeezes full time study for an advanced diploma in creative writing around writing the sequel to The Moral Compass, teaching sewing and being a wife and mother.

Florence lives like a Princess attending dinner parties and balls away from the gritty reality, filth and poverty of Victorian London.
However, her world comes crashing around her when her father suffers a spectacular fall from grace. She must abandon her life of luxury, leave behind the man she loves and sail to the far side of the world where compromise and suffering beyond anything she can imagine await her.
When she is offered the opportunity to regain some of what she has lost, she takes it, but soon discovers that not everything is as it seems. The choice she has made has a high price attached and she must live with the heart-breaking consequences of her decision.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Today I am happy to be part of Writers Persevere!, an event that
authors Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are running for the next few days to
celebrate their release of their newest book, The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma.
This book looks at the difficult experiences embedded in our character’s
backstory which will shape their motivation and behavior afterward.

Because Angela and Becca have spent the last year exploring painful human struggles, they wanted to highlight a very important aspect of overcoming difficult circumstances: it can make us stronger. I promised to let Angela hijack my blog
today, so please read on!

***

Hi
everyone! When you set out to find examples of
inner strength, you don’t have to go very far. Right here in the writing
community we see it every day. Writers more than anyone understand the swirl of
emotions as we work toward publication. We dream of making it and seeing our books in the hands of readers…yet doubt and
frustration can be a constant companion. For us, there is a lot to learn, much
to steel our nerves for, and unfortunately, a host of real-world problems that
can try to derail us. And, even as we slowly move forward and grow, we
can sometimes feel like impostors. This is a tough road.

But the fact that writers face this battle,
day after day, and KEEP GOING…this should be celebrated! We need to be reminded
that we are much stronger than we sometimes believe. We dream, create, and
force ourselves to keep striving. Through the ups and downs, we persevere!

Have you encountered something on the
writing road that made you question yourself? Have you faced an obstacle that
required a force of will to get past?

If so, we want to hear about it! Join Becca and me at Writers
Helping Writers from October 25-27th, where we are celebrating
writers and their stories of perseverance. Stop in, and tell us about a
challenge or struggle your faced, or if you like, join this event by writing a
post on your own blog and share it using the hashtag #writerspersevere. Let’s
fill social media with your strength and let other writers know that it’s
okay to question and have doubts but we shouldn’t let that stop us.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

We also have a prize vault filled with items
that can give your writing career a boost, so stop by Writers
Helping Writers. I would love for one of you to win something that will
help you get closer to your goal!

If
you struggle, remember to reach out to others. We
are in this together, and by supporting one another, we cross the finish line
together (and then keep going!).

Happy writing!

Angela & Becca***Thanks ladies!! Perseverance is a necessary trait for writers. My life (like many other folks) is more than a bit chaotic and I need to dig deep to find the perseverance to keep at this gig. My progress is slow because I tend to write in chunks of 15 or 30 minutes. But that's all okay. I'm moving forward and gaining confidence and skills. I'm learning to jump hurdles. I'll be ready when the time is right.How about you? Is perseverance important to you? Let us know - and remember to use the hashtag #writerspersevere to help spread the word!

Monday, October 16, 2017

Law enforcement consultant Gracie Hofner is assigned to a trendy San Antonio pastry shop to watch for a delivery. In addition to the intoxicating aromas of sugar and chocolate, she also has to fight her own attraction to the man working beside her, Donovan Beck. He’s a hunk and a half and perfect for a spring fling.

If she had more time, Donovan would rank higher on her to-do list. But the number one spot is occupied by her search for a missing little girl, the target of a killer. Gracie needs to find her pronto, and the odd super-instinct quirk that’s started plaguing her may help. If not, she can always see what happens if it tells her to buy a lottery ticket.

Jalapeno Cupcake Wench is the first book in The Amazing Gracie Trilogy, a story so big, it takes three books to tell it.

Cold! Cold! Gracie Hofner looked down. I can’t believe I did that. While reaching for her buzzing phone, she’d poured the remains of her water bottle, intended for her impatiens, over her bare feet. She pressed the button. “Hi, Nicky.”

“Morning. I’ve got something you may want to see.” The voice on Gracie’s phone belonged to Nick Rivera, her partner.

Former partner. Their paths had been the same—patrol, homicide detectives, and then detectives in the San Antonio Regional Intelligence Center—SARIC. San Antonio Police Department all the way. Except unlike her, Nick had found his niche there.

In addition, they were friends. “Fun or work?”

“Nothing fun about murder, Gracie.”

She went inside for a pad and pencil, greeted by the aroma of the coffee that had brewed while

she jogged. “Are we cleared?”

“Negative. Double homicide. Missing family.”

“If the family’s missing, who’s dead?”

“Hector and Therese Cantu. You ever heard of Cantu Electric?”

“Don’t think so.”

“Good reputation on the West Side. They’ve been around since my dad was a kid—started by Hector Cantu’s father back in the fifties. The old commercial was like Cantu can do. Hector’s son runs the business now. Mr. Cantu’s retired. Rephrase—now he’s good and retired. He and his wife are the deceased.”

She moved to the table and put her phone on speaker so she could take notes. “Who’s missing?”

“The Cantus have three kids, two daughters and the son, all grown. Besides the electrician business, the son owns an upscale retail lighting store. High end only. Kim and I went in there after we bought our house. I couldn’t afford a switchplate, much less a lamp or fixture. The son and his family are missing.”

In addition to Jalapeno Cupcake Wench, Carol Kilgore is the author of three romantic suspense novels: In Name Only, Solomon’s Compass, and Secrets of Honor. She’s married, guardian to two quirky dogs, and lives in San Antonio, the setting for the trilogy.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

October 4 question - Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your characters, either by accident or on purpose?Not on purpose, no, but I think I have without realizing it until later.Most of my MCs tend to have some element of me. Shyness. Awkwardness. Low self-confidence. Resiliency. Perseverance. Love of sports. Love of music. Compassion. Empathy.Have to say, I was relieved when I realized I wasn't only passing along the traits I'm working on, but the ones I'm proud of as well!How about you? Do you see echoes of you in your stories or in the stories you read?

Monday, September 11, 2017

When I’m reading a book, I want to get to know the characters. If it’s well written, with a good story line to keep me hooked, they will get inside my head. One way I “see” them and begin to understand them, is from the way they dress. I won’t have much thought for a sophisticated business woman who isn’t wearing a suit. I’ll have more respect for her if it’s one by Ralph Lauren, for example.

And that’s the way I work in my writing. My characters are defined by their actions and words, but I also like to dress them appropriately. I will often scour magazines, photo websites, even high street advertising boards to find images that fit my characters.

Let me give you some of examples.

In Guiltless the hero is a photographer who doesn’t earn very much. This is quite an important factor in his make-up. Byron wears jeans and T shirts, drives an old Nissan truck and lives in a rundown farmhouse. This is one of my favourite images I have for him:

There is a scene in the book where Byron appears in “a black suit, grey waistcoat and stark white shirt with a narrow black tie.” This attire is totally out of character with the man Lauren, the heroine, has come to know. There is a reason he has to dress like this so I go into detail about his clothes, underlying their significance.

I have great fun “dressing” Lauren, the CEO of her own fashion house, who also wants to model their next range of lingerie herself. Here is an image I have on my website:

The high heels are important – Lauren is only five feet four inches and she wants to be taller. She is very comfortable wearing four-inch heels.

The images help me to use words so the reader can visualise the characters. Of course, if someone was ever to make a film of my book, my idea may not quite work. Anyone who has read Jack Reacher and watched one of his films will know what I’m talking about.

I also use visuals on social media. It’s a great way to connect with an audience and try to promote your book without splashing the cover everywhere all of the time. When you’re character is well developed and has been “living” inside you for a long time, it’s hard to pick out photos that make a good match. One way I avoid this is to use silhouettes, but I don’t want to over-use them. In some instances I take a photograph and cut the head off. It’s not as drastic as it sounds – the photo of Byron above is a good example.

I was lucky with the protagonist of my third book, Keeping You, which will be published end 2017,early 2018. When the reader meets this guy, Lawrence, he is quite the opposite of Byron. Lawrence Bane only wears designer labels. The reason for that lies in a damaged past when he never had control of his life. I drop names such as Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein and Karl Lagerfeld into my descriptions as often as he drops his pants! But there comes a time when Lawrence has to revert to bargain clothes. I have great fun contrasting descriptions, and again imagery helps me.

For example: Suit man

and Hoody man

My aim is to describe clothing to help both explain and determine the scene. In this example, one scene is about a proud man, protective of his privacy and his past. The other is a man filled with shame as he is forced, once more, to become the man he used to be.

In this article I stick to clothing, but my laptop is full of images of buildings, furniture, bouquets, cars… I could go on. Let me know what helps you to “tell” your story.

***

Mollie Blake is a published author of contemporary romance. A lover of reading sexy stories, Mollie decided to go one step further and write her own. Her romances are filled with danger and peppered with hot sexy scenes. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and UK Romantic Novelists Association.

Managing Director of her own successful fashion house, Lauren Chandler should have everything going for her. But at twenty-nine, she finds herself single again, and bored. Seeking a new challenge in her life, under the guise of saving her company money, Lauren embarks on a mission to model their latest range of lingerie herself. She just needs a photographer. When Byron Lord makes an unusual proposal, Lauren is adamant he won’t win the contract.

Co-owner of Broadway Studios, Byron Lord is determined to provide job security to his off-beat workforce, and he needs Lauren Chandler’s help to do so. Byron may have underestimated how far Lauren would be prepared to go. He had definitely underestimated how much she would demand of him.

And with an ultimatum of her own, Lauren gets far more than she bargained for.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

And we’re revving up IWSG Day to make it more fun and interactive! Every month, we'll announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Include your answer to the question in your IWSG post or let it inspire your post if you are struggling with something to say.

September 6 Question: Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in??

My poetry always surprises me. I don't write it all that often, but when I do it is often dark. Scary. Deep. Disturbing. Twisted. Definitely showing the darker side of humanity.

For those who don't know, I write contemporary romance and romantic suspense with light-hearted banter and doses of humour. Always with a Happy Ever After.

It's quite a contrast, but that's just the way it happens.

What about you? Any surprises in your writing? Do you write poetry too? Do you prefer the dark and twisted or the HEA?